


Red

by reggydayo



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-19
Updated: 2012-01-19
Packaged: 2017-10-29 18:59:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/323076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reggydayo/pseuds/reggydayo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Terezi finds a patch on red, on Karkat, of all people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red

**Author's Note:**

> This is the only Homestuck thing I've started, finished, and still liked, so up it goes.

Terezi smells it on him like a stop sign. Like someone had smacked her in the face with the stop sign. She very nearly reels backward, not because it’s strong in her nose (it’s a small strip against grey and black), but because it’s coming off of him so clearly. At first, she panics.

 

“Karkat, are you okay??” His yellow of his eyes narrow at her, his confused face.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he bites out. But his demeanor isn’t rigid like when he’s angry. “Why?”

 

“But, your wrist..!” She steps forward, and Karkat becomes clearer to her. His eyebrows are knit together in consternation, and he raises his arm limply. Terezi grabs it and inhales.

 

There it is, bright on his skin, but not metallic. She puts her fingers to it- it’s soft. So, not blood. Terezi raises her head to meet Karkat’s.

 

“What is this?”

 

Karkat jerks his wrist free. “Kanaya made it for me.” He sounds more incensed this time. The grey insignia on his shirt is eclipsed by black; he’s recoiling from her. “I’d have expected you of all people to like it, what with your strange-ass color fetish. Isn’t it your favorite?”

 

He’s coddling it against his chest like a wounded whiskerbeast, and Terezi realizes, he’s nervous. She grins.

 

“Yeah. It is.” He’s still rubbing at it, body turned away from her, so she adds, “It looks good on you, Karkat.” And now she smells it on his cheeks, and laughs as he waves her off angrily and wanders toward Gamzee’s call.

 

It’s a small thing, just a wristband, but it’s a start. As Gamzee talks to him as if he’s not wearing his too-red blood color in plain sight, Karkat relaxes in his own skin. Terezi sees it happen in the way his shoulders drop, and in the way he no longer slouches in on himself, and she smiles.


End file.
